


Bound By Fate

by lizzyunicorn



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Captain America: The First Avenger - Fandom
Genre: 1940s, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Businessman!Bucky, F/M, Happy Ending, M/M, Nat and Steve are very good friends, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Sam ships Steve and Bucky, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Steve and Bucky were Soulmates in their first life, Steve works at a coffeeshop with Nat, Steve's a cutiepie, Student!Steve, Tony and Bucky are Bros, Winter Soldier never happened, and have no memory of it, at the beginning, fluff at sometime, kind of, they both died when Bucky fell from the train, waiter!steve
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-03
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-24 13:13:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6154867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizzyunicorn/pseuds/lizzyunicorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>››Soulmates are something rare. They do not meet often, but if they do they stay together their whole life. If one dies, so does the other. At least rumors say so...‹‹</p><p>When Steve first meets his soulmate he doesn't know who he is or talks to him nor does he know that this person is his soulmate. Despite the feeling in his stomach, he's sure that this man isn't his soulmate. However, when he awakes the next morning after dreaming constantly about him and finding two sentences engraved on his left arm, he can't deny it anymore. The stranger is his soulmate. But how is he supposed to find him? And what about the two sentences on his arm? Shouldn't there only be one?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The meeting of a soulmate... Such a rare and beautiful thing. But do they really have to meet in order to know?

**Author's Note:**

> “...and when one of them meets the other half, the actual half of himself, whether he be a lover of youth or a lover of another sort, the pair are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy and one will not be out of the other's sight, as I may say, even for a moment...” -Plato, The Symposium 
> 
>  
> 
> I maybe should let you know that not necessarily the first sentence your soulmate says to you appears on your left arm, but the first sentence you hear him/her say.

Steve first saw his soulmate in front of the little coffee shop he was working for, talking to a man with sunglasses and a suit, just as fancy as the one his soulmate was wearing. Of course, Steve didn’t know at that moment that this man was his soulmate. Truth be told, he didn’t even _think_ about it. However, Steve found said man very intriguing. There was something about him that made it impossible to look away. He had short brown hair, cut in a very fashionable way, brown eyes, a smile that probably made all women’s knees go weak (including Steve’s). He wore a navy suit, which already looked expensive (Steve didn’t want to know how expensive it really was), a white shirt and a deep purple tie and black shoes. Steve spotted a golden watch on his left arm – probably Rolex. All in all this man looked simply stunning and beautiful. And very rich. The same could be said about the man with the sunglasses, although Steve didn’t find him as beautiful as the other one. The man with the sunglasses also had brown hair; however, his was a bit darker. His suit was a bit darker than the other one’s and his tie was red and blue stripped instead of a deep purple. But both of them looked rich and good. And very much out of Steve’s league. Not that Steve had really thought about leaving the shop and asking the one without sunglasses for his number. Never ever would Steve do that. But he still thought that this man was good-looking. And besides, he probably had a girlfriend or fiancée waiting at home. Certainly, Steve was bi, he knew that, but this guy was not his league and there was no way he would be gay. Never ever.

  
So Steve watched the hot guy chat with his friend, before a black limousine stopped in front of them and they both got inside, leaving Steve alone with his dreams. There had been something about the guy without the sunglasses that had given Steve a weird feeling in his stomach. As if he was supposed to know him or something like that. Of course, that was totally absurd, but the feeling remained. Even after Steve tried to do his job with more enthusiasm, doodling on the cups when he had the time for it. He couldn’t get the man out of his head. It was frustrating and very annoying. Steve tried his best to get him out of his head, but there was no way he could. His brown hair and the shining brown eyes and his absolutely breathtaking smile always came back haunting Steve.

  
“Oh, c’mon”, Steve muttered under his breath when he had tried to forget the man for over an hour now. Unsuccessfully, of course.   
“What’s wrong, Steve?”   
The cashier Nat, who was also an old friend of Steve, looked at him questioningly and he shook his head.   
“Nothing. It’s nothing”, he muttered and Nat raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. She was used to Steve muttering under his breath and getting frustrated by various things. It was something usual and yet weird, because Steve most often got frustrated by things that were so natural. Like the internet or chat-slang. Steve still wasn’t a big friend of the internet and still preferred a book over Wikipedia. And he was helpless at chat-slang. You could explain it to him over and over again and he still wouldn’t get it. Nat had given up after she had explained to him what “brb” meant for the 5th time, deciding that it was easier to not use it when talking to Steve. Nat often joked that he must have had a past life in which the internet and chat-slang hadn’t existed yet. Not that she was completely wrong with this, but not that anyone, including Steve himself, knew.

  
When Steve took his break to eat his lunch his best friend Sam entered the coffee shop, spotting him right away. After getting his coffee and wrap, Sam sat down next to Steve.   
“So, tell me, what are you thinking about?” Sam asked and Steve raised an eyebrow.   
“How do you -?” he started but Sam interrupted him.   
“You always look like you look now when you’re thinking about something”, he explained and Steve sighed.   
“Caught”, he admitted with a weak smile and Sam chuckled.   
“So, what is it?”

  
For a second Steve thought about telling Sam a lie but he decided against it because he was a horrible liar and Sam would see right through it. But could he really tell Sam what had happened today?

  
A sigh left Steve’s mouth.   
“It’s just… I’m thinking about something, which happened today”, he finally admitted and Sam raised an eyebrow.   
“What happened?” he asked curiously. He was used to Steve being flirted with but if it had been flirting, Steve would have been a flustered mess by now.   
“I… It’s totally stupid actually”, Steve said and Sam blinked a few times before he laughed.   
“Doesn’t matter, man. Now tell me.”   
Steve looked at Sam, before he sighed again, took a bite of his bread and then said: “I met someone today.”

  
In an instant Sam had stopped eating and had started to look at Steve with wide eyes.   
“No way”, he said and Steve added hastily: “Not like that. I… saw someone.”   
The aura of happiness radiating off of Sam, dropped.   
“And?” he asked, still interested but not as curious as before.   
“He was… I don’t know. He was just… I had this weird feeling in my stomach, okay?” Steve stuttered his face now red and Sam thought about that for a second. It could be just Steve being in love again or the feeling of rightness when you met your soulmate. It could be both and Sam wasn’t sure which one it was.   
“How did it feel exactly?”   
“Better how does it feel…” Steve muttered and Sam’s eyes widened again.   
“YOU’RE STILL FEELING IT?!” he nearly screamed and drew everyone’s attention in the shop towards them, making Steve blush furiously. Sam apologized hastily, but Nat’s eyes remained on the two of them.   
Sam looked at Steve.   
“You’re still feeling it?” he asked again and Steve nodded.   
“Holy shit”, Sam muttered and he leaned back in his chair. Surely, it could just be love, but the way Steve felt so hopeless could also mean that this person was Steve’s soulmate. Sam had experienced it, too. This feeling of happiness, of weirdness and of rightness, telling you that it was… well just right with this person. That this was your soulmate. You just knew it. And then his boyfriend’s first words to him had appeared on his arm and he knew that he had met his soulmate.

  
Although everyone said your whole life was about meeting your soulmate, most people didn’t. Soulmates were rare. Very rare. More often than not your soulmate and you lived miles away from each other and would never meet. So if you really met your soulmate it was something special, something miraculous. As most people never met their soulmate, they just decided to stay with the person they loved and felt comfortable with and with whom they could picture themselves living for many years together. Sometimes you met your soulmate when you were old and only had a few years left and on some very rare occasions you met your significant other in your childhood. But soulmates were rare.

  
So if Steve really had seen his soulmate then his soulmate must have felt it, too. There was no other way. If you and your soulmate met for the very first time, you both felt it. You both felt this weird feeling in your stomach and you both knew that you were meant to be together.

  
Sam would never give up that feeling of rightness and his soulmate foranything else. Not for money, not for love, not for power. He would follow his soulmate into death if he had to. And well… There was the thing about death. It was just a rumor, nothing the scientists had confirmed yet, but it was said that if your soulmate died then so would you. Because one soulmate could not live without the other. You both were just drawn to each other; your lives were tied together. You had a bound with your soulmate and depending on how deep it was you could feel anything your soulmate felt. You could feel when he was angry, when he was sad, when he was ill and the other way round. Being soulmates with someone was a gift of god and you wouldn’t joke around with that. Scientists and politicians and everyone took the soulmate-thing very serious and no one ever made a joke about that. Sam had learned that despite being illegal, same-sex marriage was declared legal for soulmates in the early 60s. No one would joke about you having a soulmate from the same sex, because soulmates were chosen by god and not by your heart. You couldn’t influence it, fate decided.

  
“Can you describe it?” Sam asked and Steve bit his lip for a second.   
“It’s … I don’t know. Like…” Steve tried to find the right words and Sam knew. He knew that Steve had met his soulmate, because he had felt the exact same way. You couldn’t describe the feeling, it just felt right.   
“Does it feel like you’re in love?” Sam asked and Steve looked at him in utter horror.   
“Pardon? I have only seen him not talked to him or something that sort. So how could I be in love with him? And besides, it didn’t feel like that with Peggy”, Steve said and Sam took in a deep breath.   
Peggy had been Steve’s girlfriend in High School and they had been really cute together and would probably still be together if it wasn’t for the fact that Peggy had left to study in England, where she promptly had met her soulmate Andrew. Talking about soulmates, it seemed as though most of Steve’s friends met their soulmates, but that was another thing for another day.

  
“Steve. Don’t freak out, okay?” Sam finally said after a long time of silence and Steve, who had started to eat again, looked at him.   
“Why should I freak out?” he asked and raised an eyebrow.   
Sam took a sip of his coffee before he answered.   
“You see… I know that feeling. I know what you mean. It just felt right, didn’t it? It felt right when you saw him, right?”   
Steve nodded slowly.   
“So… You see… The thing is… I felt exactly that when I met… When I met James.” Sam said and for a second Steve looked at him as if he had made a joke.   
“You’re joking, right?” Steve asked and Sam shook his head.

  
For a moment nothing happened before Steve sighed loudly and leaned back in his chair.   
“No way”, was his only comment and Sam smiled weakly.   
“Well, Steve, you can’t really influence the whole soulmate-thing. It just happens.”   
Steve looked at Sam in disbelief.   
“Sure. Because soulmates are so common”, Steve said sarcastically and Sam sighed.   
“I know, okay? But that doesn’t change the fact that this must have been your soulmate”, Sam insisted and Steve shook his head.   
“No way. I was probably just freaking out about how good he looked. That’s all. Really” Steve replied and Sam looked at him, but didn’t answer. He knew that Steve wouldn’t believe him anyway. Steve was certain that he hadn’t met his soulmate and he wouldn’t believe Sam until their first words would appear on his arm.

  
Sam sighed.   
“Fine. Then you’re just in love”, he stated and Steve sighed.   
“Yeah. Whatever”, he muttered and glanced at the clock on the wall. “I should help Nat”, he said and Sam nodded.   
Steve stood up and looked at Sam.   
“See you tomorrow at the park?” he asked and Sam nodded absentminded.

  
With a slight nod Steve walked over to Nat, who was already waiting for him with a smirk on her face, ready to annoy him with questions. Steve sighed to himself. Great. This day was going really great.

 

~

 

When Steve was back at home that evening he thought about the man again. His smile and his eyes didn’t leave Steve’s mind, even as he was trying to occupy it with a book. When it didn’t work, he put it away with a sigh and started sketching, which only lead to him drawing the stranger. What was wrong with him? Why in god’s name was he so obsessing over this man? He was just a good-looking stranger, no more. So why couldn’t he get him off his mind?

  
Deciding that Steve had enough of this day he went to bed and hoped that by tomorrow morning he had forgotten about the man.

 

~

 

Boy, was Steve wrong. At night while he dreamed the man appeared again and again in his dreams. First in clothes which looked a bit out-of-date but in which he still looked just awesome. In that dream Steve was talking to the stranger as if they had been friends. It felt familiar, normal and right. There it was again, this feeling of rightness Sam had talked about. Steve hadn’t wanted to admit it but it had felt right.   
Even in his dream Steve didn’t know the man’s name but it felt right and it was okay. They seemed to get along more than well and it felt as if there was more to them, something Steve couldn’t figure out what it was.

  
When his dream changed, the man was wearing the uniform of a soldier. It was neat, clean and looked freshly pressed as if he just got it. He had his arm around Steve and for the first time Steve realized that this man was taller than he was and he thought it was weird, but then again it felt right. And his arm around him felt right. Everything felt right. As if it was meant to be this way. As if the arm around his shoulder was meant to be there. Even in his dream Steve could feel the heat radiating off of the man and warming him. He could smell his cologne and he could hear his deep voice, but he couldn’t make out what he was saying but it made his heart beat faster and it was okay because he could say anything as long as he kept talking. Steve could _feel_ how close he and this other man were and again it felt right.

  
Again his dream changed and this time Steve automatically felt taller, stronger and healthier. The man was still at his side, but now he was a bit smaller than Steve but it didn’t feel awkward. No, once again it felt right.  
Slowly the whole rightness was starting to get annoying but Steve’s dream-self couldn’t help himself, it just felt right. The man seemed to laugh about something Steve had said and Steve could see the camera in front of them, but he ignored it and instead looked at the man next to him, who had a wonderful smile and who was simply beautiful. And Steve felt this feeling of rightness right inside him and the deep love he felt for this man – this stranger. For a second Steve could caught a glimpse on the man’s arm – the left arm, the one on which your soulmate’s first words to you were engraved – and he could spot a soft dark sentence, but he could only make out “I had him on” , the remaining part was impossible to read. Steve wondered what it really said and he looked down on his in order to find out if he had a soulmate, but his arm was covered in a blue sleeve, preventing him from being able to see it.

  
When his dream changed again he was on a train and he was feeling empty and alone and broken. And Steve couldn’t make out what was going on until he realized that the man was missing and he could feel the emptiness so deep inside him, it nearly killed him. And when some time passed in his dream, he was sitting in front of a bottle of whiskey and was talking to a woman, who looked like Peggy, but that was impossible, that couldn’t be Peggy, because this woman wore clothes from a different time and the ones of a female soldier and then in the next second he felt how his heart just stopped beating and he was gasping for air and he still felt the loneliness and emptiness and he was trying to breathe, and he could hear the women scream and running over to him, trying to help him but Steve’s vision went black and then everything was gone.

  
His dream changed for a last time after that. This time he was with the man again and he was holding his hand, saying something to him, which made him laugh and the man smiled at him with this wonderful smile and again it felt right, so right, Steve couldn’t describe it. Not only felt it right, it felt as if this had happened before. Again, he was so close to the man that he could smell his cologne and it had a familiar scent. Steve didn’t know where he had smelled it before but he had, he definitely had.   
Suddenly, the man was stopping and Steve looked at him surprised, but the man only smiled and moved towards him and Steve was only waiting for their lips to meet....

 

  
...When he awoke.   
Steve woke up with a headache stronger than he had before – even stronger than the one he had had when Sam and Nat had talked him into going to this party of Clint’s (Nat’s boyfriend), where Clint had gotten Steve so drunken, Steve couldn’t remember a thing of it. But not only was his head killing him, no, his arm was burning like fire and Steve scratched, hoping that it would get better. It didn’t help.

With a yawn, Steve sat up and tried to comprehend where he was and what had happened. He soon realized that he had dreamt and that he still was in his bed in his flat – well, he could have figured that out sooner. A glance at his alarm clock on the nightstand told him it was time to stand up and get ready for his run in the park with Sam.

Trying to ignore his headache, the weird feeling in his stomach and the pain on his left arm, Steve fetched some of his clothes and went to the bathroom. He had brushed his teeth and was about to put on the t-shirt, when he noticed it.

There was something on his left arm.

Steve looked at it in shock and when he noticed what it was, he let out a “Fuck”.

On his arms were words written.

And not only that. It were two sentences, not only one. The first one was darker and seemed fresher, newer. The second one, the one below the first seemed older as if it had faded away a bit.   
Steve swallowed. Had he talked to anyone yesterday he hadn’t talked to before and had felt weird around? He couldn’t remember. The only one that came to his mind was the good-looking stranger in the suit but that was impossible.

Steve read the sentences and swallowed again.   
_››We’ve met before, right?‹‹_   
and _››Hey, pick on someone your own size!”_

A deep blush appeared on Steve’s cheeks and he sat down on the toilet, before he rested his head in his hands. This couldn’t be. This just couldn’t be.

“Sam’s going to kill me.” 


	2. To find your soulmate by only seeing them - how lucky and rare to experience it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky tells Tony about the fact that he has found his soulmate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “One does not find soulmates.. soulmates 'happen' unannounced in some turn of this deliciously unpredictable journey called life, often when we are not even 'groomed for the occasion”  
> ― Sourabh Mukherjee, About Matters of the Hurt: Love Stories - Round the Clock
> 
>  
> 
> I suck at titles (as you may have noticed).   
> Also this chapter is following Bucky and not Steve. I'll probably change the P.O.V's from time to time, though it will be Steve most of the time I guess.   
> This one's also a bit shorter than the last one, but whatever. The next one should be longer again.

All his life Bucky had searched for the meaning of life. _His_ life in particular. He had heard about soulmates and about how life’s meaning was all about meeting your soulmate. But when Bucky grew older and learned more about soulmates, he realized that most of it was just an illusion. It was a nice thing to hear about and to see it on some very rare occasions, but it was something which was simply impossible to happen to everyone. Finding your soulmate was a mission with no end. Bucky read tons of books about soulmates (not that he would admit it) and he learned that you couldn’t just find your soulmate – your soulmate found _you_.   
However, for many years Bucky still had hoped that he would meet his soulmate one day. He dreamed of meeting his significant other, although he wouldn’t announce it publically. When he had met Evelyn Wey when he had been 17, he had thought that she was his soulmate.However, no words ever appeared on his or her arm. They had been together for many years still – Bucky had figured that it was the best to stay with someone you loved if you couldn’t find your soulmate – but around two years ago their relationship had shattered into pieces. Evelyn, who had become a well-known physician, had been on a trip in India, to give a lecture at a university, when she had met her soulmate. A boy, just 23 years old, who sat in her lecture, was her soulmate. Needless to say, Evelyn broke up with Bucky to spend the rest of her life with her soulmate in India. They still got along well, but it wasn’t the same as before. Every time they skyped Evelyn told him how great it was to have your soulmate by your side and always asked him if he had met his, as if she would expect him to meet his, too. For Evelyn, who had already met her soulmate, soulmates weren’t something special but something natural, as if you met your soulmate all the time. Obviously, this wasn’t the case but no matter how often Bucky explained it to her, she didn’t listen.

Now, two years after their breakup at age 28, Bucky barely worked on finding his soulmate. As Tony Stark’s partner in business he had more important things to do.

So when Bucky suddenly had felt a weird feeling in his stomach – a feeling of happiness, closeness and _rightness_ – he had been confused as he had never been before. He had looked around subtly, trying to figure out if something was odd, but no, there wasn’t anything. Tony had asked him if something was wrong, but Bucky had denied it and had kept the weird feeling in his stomach to himself. Although telling Tony about the feeling probably wouldn’t have been that much of a bad idea. After all, Tony had found his soulmate in his wife Pepper, a very nice and lovely woman. But what if he had just imagined it? What if he had just imagined the feeling of rightness in his gut and it had all been an illusion? Afraid that he had just made things up Bucky had remained silent. However, when he and Tony had gotten in the car and he had looked outside, trying to find the source of this weird feeling, his eyes had landed on a man in the coffee shop Tony and he had waited in front. Bucky barely had time to make out his features, but he had nicely cut blond hair, muscles and wore a nice grey long sleeve and an apron, indicating that he worked at the store. Bucky didn’t meet his eyes, but Bucky knew in an instant that this man was the person he had searched for. This man was his soulmate, there was no other way. How else could he explain the feeling of rightness in his stomach?   
However, before he could get out of the car again and run inside and asking the man out (Bucky didn’t really care whether his target of affection was female or male, he only saw people), they already drove away and Bucky did the only thing he could do: memorize the name of the coffee shop.   
When Bucky had looked at Tony, his friend had looked at him quizzically, but Bucky had just smiled and waved it off with a “There was someone hot”.

Now, Bucky wished he would have told Tony straight away.

Currently standing in front of his friend’s office, he knew that Tony must have figured something out. For example why Bucky wasn’t slipping off his suit jacket.

The reason behind it was simple – or maybe it wasn’t, Bucky wasn’t sure about that. When Bucky had awoken this morning with a strong headache as if he had drunken way too much yesterday evening and an itch on his left arm, he hadn’t thought much about it. However, when he had reached for his shirt he had noticed the writing on his left arm. Two sentences were engraved on his arm and for a long time Bucky just stared at them. Soulmates weren’t supposed to have two sentences written on their arms, but only one. However, the sentence beneath the first sentence looked a bit faded, as if it was older and had faded with the time. Worried, Bucky had decided to keep it a secret for the time being and that he would go and find the stranger – he also had dreamt of him, Bucky remembered – and ask him out.

Unfortunately, Tony wasn’t dumb (he didn’t own Stark Industries for nothing after all) and had quickly figured out that something about the way Bucky behaved today was odd. Bucky wasn’t certain how exactly Tony had figured it out, after all he had tried to act as normal as possible, but Tony still had told him to come and meet him at his office as soon as possible. Bucky had tried to buy himself some time by doing useless work, but in the end had decided that he couldn’t hide from Tony his whole life. He would have to face the demon sooner or later.

Swallowing, Bucky knocked on the door and was told immediately that he was allowed to enter. Bucky opened the door only to find Tony smirking at him. Bucky put on an indifferent look, although he would love to wipe this smirk from Tony’s face. He had nothing to smirk about, this smug bastard. Closing the door behind him, Bucky strolled over to the seat across from Tony’s and sat down. “So what is it that you want from me, Tony?” Bucky asked, trying to not sound like he wanted to punch his friend.   
Tony, not oblivious to Bucky’s feelings, smirked even wider, before saying: “Well, Bucky, tell me about that great secret of yours you’re even keeping from me.”   
Bucky raised an eyebrow, as if he didn’t know what Tony was talking about.   
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Tony.”   
Tony sighed, leaning back in his office chair, eyeing Bucky.   
“Oh, James, please. You know just as much as I do that you cannot keep a secret from me”, Tony said bored and Bucky growled. Tony, that damn bastard.   
“Your growl just makes it more obvious that you’re hiding something from me, Bucky”, Tony remarked and Bucky glared daggers at his friend before he sighed.   
“Fine, fine, fine, I’ll tell you”, he said and Tony grinned. Bucky regretted his decision right away. Tony always got what he wanted, why was he so dumb and gave in?   
“Sooooo, Bucky, tell me”, Tony said and Bucky bit his lip, thinking about the best way to tell his friend. What could you say when you learned today that you met your soulmate? And that your soulmate was someone you hadn’t even talked to yet? How was he supposed to explain this to Tony? And even more difficult: How was he supposed to explain what the second sentence meant? It wasn’t meant to be there, it wasn’t right, so why was it there? Bucky didn’t even have answers himself so how should he answer Tony’s questions, which would definitely be coming?   
Bucky hadn’t been this nervous and helpless for ages and he was sure it was visible.   
“Bucky, just tell me, you idiot”, Tony groaned and Bucky looked at him, before he whispered: “I’ve met my soulmate.”

Just this little whispered sentence caused Tony to look at Bucky with wide eyes as if he couldn’t believe it. In fact, it was hard to believe. Tony knew Bucky and knew that his friend spent most of the time working than searching for his soulmate or the love of his life. Additionally, Bucky spent a lot of his time with Tony, so it was nearly impossible for Bucky to meet his soulmate without Tony noticing. So how could he have missed it? How could he not have noticed?

“What” was the only thing that Tony could utter and Bucky blushed the slightest bit.   
“You heard me”, Bucky muttered and Tony took a deep breath, trying to process what the brunette had just told him.   
“No fucking way.” Bucky lied. There was no way that he wasn’t lying. How could he have met his soulmate without Tony noticing? There was no way this was possible.   
“You’re lying.”   
“I’m not”, Bucky stated confidently and for a second Tony lost his composure. It was impossible for Bucky to have found his soulmate, but what if he really had and Tony hadn’t noticed? Or what if he had brushed it off as one of Bucky’s usual weird actions? What if… What if Bucky really had met him and had lied to him about it? In the back of his mind Tony recalled how Bucky had acted yesterday in the car and had brushed it off with a “There was someone hot”. What if in truth Bucky had seen his soulmate and hadn’t wanted to tell Tony because he was sure that that just couldn’t be? It was true, it was a rare thing to find your soulmate but it was even rarer to find your soulmate without talking to them. Usually you found your soulmate by meeting them or hear them talking, not only by seeing them. It was a really extraordinary case when someone met his soulmate by seeing them and not by meeting them. The scientists said that depending on the way you find your soulmate you know how deep your bound with them was. It was said that a bound between soulmates, who found each other by seeing the other, was so deep, they could feel every single emotion the other experienced. Tony and his wife Pepper had a bound with each other but it was by no way as deep as the bound between soulmates, who found themselves by seeing each other. Tony could make out what Pepper was feeling but it was inconstant and from time to time Tony had no clue what was going on in Pepper. He knew better how Pepper was feeling when the emotions were strong, but otherwise it was hard to tell how exactly she was feeling. But a bound between two soulmates, who had realized they were meant to be through seeing each other, was a lot stronger, even said to be the strongest among all bounds people could have. It was a bound of a very deep love and a bound that gave you the ability to know at every time how your significant other was feeling. It was a very precious gift of god and one no person would mess around. It was therefore more than understandable why Bucky hadn’t uttered a word. He had been afraid that he was just imagining things, because how high was the chance that he could have found his soulmate by seeing them?

Tony took a deep breath.   
“Prove it”, Tony said and for a moment Bucky’s expression was that of sheer horror. Tony was confused. Why was Bucky so afraid to show him the sentence that was engraved on his arm? There was nothing wrong with it, no matter what it said. People treated naughty sentences (which were very very rare) just as the usual ones (aka Hey, I’m XYZ). So why was Bucky so terrified by Tony’s request to show him his arm?  
Slowly regaining his composure, Bucky slipped off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeve. He managed to keep the sentence written on his arm out of Tony’s sight throughout the whole procedure before he said: “Please don’t freak out.”

Tony looked at Bucky more than confused, but wasn’t able to respond to it because Bucky showed Tony his arm and all Tony could do was stare at it.   
“No fucking way.”

It wasn’t what the sentence written on Bucky’s arm said that took Tony completely aback, but much more the fact that not only one but two sentences were engraved on Bucky’s arm. The first one looked fresh and new and just like Tony’s did and said “ _This is a dream_ ”. The second one, which was engraved below the first one, seemed older and faded as if it had been engraved on Bucky’s arm a long time ago and now had appeared with the first sentence again and said “ _I had him on the ropes_ ”.

Tony remained silent for a long time. He had heard once about soulmates, who had two sentences written on their arm, and no one had ever been able to explain it. Rumors said that the two had been soulmates in a previous life and that the second one was the sentence they first had heard their significant other say in that life and the first one – the fresher one – the first sentence they had heard their soulmate say in this life. No one knew whether the story was true because the two couldn’t remember a single thing about their former lives, but if it was true then it was one hell of a story. To be soulmates with the same person in two different lives was a thing even more special than the whole soulmate-thing in general. Some said that the bound of those soulmates must have been so deep in their previous life that they now found themselves again. Some also said that they must have had a horrible death in their former life so that god gave them another chance – a chance for a better and happier life. Tony didn’t know what was true, but he knew damn well that Bucky and his soulmate were something special and were more than meant to be.

After a long time Tony finally regained his ability to speak again.   
“So… what’s your soulmate’s name? Who is your significant other?”, Tony asked and Bucky bit his lip again.   
“I don’t know”, he admitted and Tony raised an eyebrow.   
“What do you mean? Have you only seen him and then not talked to him or what?”   
Bucky nodded and Tony let out a deep breath.   
“Holy fuck.”   
Bucky swallowed before he explained it.   
“You see… The thing is… Yesterday when we stood in front of this coffee shop waiting for the car this weird feeling of rightness overcame me but I thought I just made it up, so I didn’t say a thing and I couldn’t find anyone, who I couldn’t stop looking at”, Bucky said and he looked at Tony, who simply nodded, to tell him to go on.   
“However, the feeling didn’t stop and when we sat in the car and I looked for that person again I saw him and –“   
“Him?” Tony asked and Bucky blushed beet-red, while nodding. A smirk appeared on Tony’s lips and he said: “Go on.”   
Bucky ran a hand through his hair before he continued. “Well... I saw him and I just knew that it was him; that he was my soulmate. But before I could say a thing we had driven off and all I could do was to remember the name of the store”, Bucky said and Tony closed his eyes for a second, before he asked: “What did he look like? Was he hot?”

A grin appeared on Bucky’s lips and he nodded furiously.   
“Extremely hot. Blond hair, and one hell of a body. A lot of muscles and he was pretty tall but he also somehow looked cute and he was just stunning and oh my god, he is so hot and breathtaking and …”, Bucky said and his eyes looked like he was daydreaming and Tony chuckled. If that wasn’t cute to see his friend like this. Bucky usually never acted like this, so it was one hell of a show to see.   
“Seems like someone’s in love”, Tony stated and he couldn’t blame Bucky. When you met your soulmate every other love in your life you ever had experienced seemed meaningless and you loved this person, who was meant for you, in a totally different way, in a way you couldn’t describe with words. You didn’t just give your significant other a part of your heart; no, you gave them your whole heart and your soul. You were meant to be one for the rest of your life and there was no denying it.

Bucky blushed a deep shade of red, but Tony just laughed.   
“So… what’s the name of the store? We should find that boy, because he obviously is your soulmate”, Tony said and Bucky blinked a few times, before he whispered: “ _America’s Dream_.”   
Tony nodded.   
“Alright.”

With that he stood up and Bucky looked at him confused.   
“Where are you going?” he asked and Tony sighed.   
“Oh, c’mon, Bucky. We’re going to that coffee shop and find your soulmate. What else should we be doing now?” Tony said after rolling his eyes and Bucky looked at him for a few seconds before he nodded and stood up as well.

Tony waited for Bucky to roll down his sleeve and put on his suit jacket again, before he ushered his friend out of the office and towards the exit.

“Let’s go and meet that soulmate of you”, he muttered and Bucky swallowed, nervous to finally meet the person he had waited for his whole life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for following the story ^3^  
> Also, thank you for the kudos, bookmarks and subscriptions.   
> See you next chapter <3


	3. "I'd ask you out for coffee but considering that we're in a coffee shop... How about dinner?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Bucky finally meet.  
> Steve's a flustered mess, Bucky likes it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “For better or worse, he was my soul mate. The other half of me. In many ways, he was my reflection.”  
> ― Sylvia Day, Reflected in You

Steve was in the backroom and slipped on his jacket, before he searched for his bag. He didn’t have any classes this afternoon, but as Steve had a big exam about the different eras in art soon he had decided to bring his textbook along with him to study while working. However, when he finally found his bag underneath one of the chairs and lifted it up, he realized that it was far too light to contain the book.  
Steve sighed. He had forgotten his book at the counter because he had studied while doing his work. The manager didn’t really care about what they were doing while working as long as they were working, so Steve had decided it wouldn’t be a problem to read while working. It hadn’t been a problem, but as forgetful as Steve sometimes was, he had forgotten his book on the counter.

Running a hand through his hair, Steve decided it was the best to just get it, despite a 100% chance of being mocked by Nat again. When Steve had told Sam this morning about the sentences on his arm, Sam had freaked out, telling him that he had told him and that he had been right all along, while Steve had said nothing. Nat wouldn’t even know about the whole thing, if it wasn’t for Sam, who had stopped by to get a coffee before his classes started, and had told Nat everything about it. Of course she had made it her mission from then on to annoy Steve with the subject. As if it wasn’t embarrassing enough to not even know the name of your soulmate.

Before he could re-think the whole thing, Steve entered the shop again and walked behind the counter. Nat raised an eyebrow.  
“Aren’t you done for the day, Stevie?” she asked and Steve nodded.  
“Forgot my textbook”, he muttered and Nat started laughing, before passing on the next order to Sharon. Sharon smiled at Steve friendly, before handing him the book.  
“Here. I figured it was yours. If you wouldn’t have come back, I would have come by this evening to give it back”, she said with that sweet smile of her and Steve knew she was flirting. Although he was horrible when it came to women and flirting, he had learned to figure out when someone was flirting with him after having worked in the coffee shop for a few months. Now – five years after starting to work here – he knew within seconds when someone was flirting with him. However, that didn’t mean he suddenly was a great flirter. Steve still was horrible at flirting and a flustered mess when it came to women or men. Nat always laughed when Steve tried to friendly reject a women’s offer for a date, but Steve knew she didn’t mean it in a rude way. He knew Nat for far too long to that.

Steve said goodbye to Nat and Sharon again, when he suddenly heard the bell at the door ringing, telling them that another customer had entered the store. _America’s Dream_ wasn’t exactly the favorite coffee shop of a lot of people (although that was a shame, they had the best coffee after all) so next to the regulars only few people visited the store. Not that it was much of a problem for Steve and the others. They knew when the rush hours were and when they had time for lunch. They knew their regulars by their name and usually always had time to talk to them, until either they had to leave or Steve and the others had another customer.

Steve hadn’t really looked at the door, but the feeling of rightness, which he had felt since yesterday, suddenly grew stronger and he looked at the door and…

“This is a dream.”

This was impossible. No way. This just couldn’t be. Neatly cut brown hair, a fancy suit, sparkling brown eyes and a smile that made his heart skip a beat. Steve would always recognize the person, despite not knowing them.  
Steve could feel Sharon’s surprised glance on him, but he ignored it, unable to tear his gaze away from the person, who had just entered the coffee shop: His soulmate.

His soulmate seemed to have heard him, because suddenly his eyes met Steve’s and Steve could feel the world stop turning. It was as if everything around them went black and white, as if everything around them was unimportant, as if the only thing that mattered was that they had found each other.  
Seconds passed, before his soulmate came over to him, only the counter separating them and before anyone could say something, he said: “We’ve met before, right?”

Steve held his breath and so did the others. It was a weird question, after all they had never met before, but something deep down in Steve’s stomach told him that he _had_ met this man before, that this wasn’t the first time he had met his soulmate. His whole mind was a blank sheet of paper and he could feel the others staring at him. What was he supposed to answer? Yes? They hadn’t met in this life before after all. In this life…  
It had a strange ring to it as if there was some truth in it, as if there had been a previous life in which they had met, in which they had known each other.

Steve regained his ability to speak only slowly, but he finally was able to mutter: “I… I don’t know. H-Have we?”  
Maybe Steve should stop staring at the man like this, maybe he should look somewhere else for a second, but he couldn’t. This man held galaxies in his eyes or at least it felt so for Steve and Steve felt as if all of the stars shined bright, making his soulmate’s eyes seem like diamonds.

A genuine smile, a smile that made his knees go weak and made Steve having to lean against the counter in order to keep standing, appeared on the man’s face before he introduced himself.  
“Well, I guess it’s time for me to tell you my name. I’m Bucky”, he said, the smile still on his lips and Steve swallowed and for probably the one hundredths time did he wish that he wasn’t so horrible at flirting or talking to someone he liked, because everything Steve did was stare at Bucky. Bucky… It seemed like a nickname because Steve found it strange that someone would call their child “Bucky” but then you never knew. Maybe Bucky just preferred being called by his nickname instead of his real name. Steve could understand that. After all no one was calling him Steven, only Steve. But for what was Bucky the nickname for? It had to be a rather rare name because how else could you make Bucky out of a name?

Noticing that Bucky still waited for an answer, Steve blushed beet-red but before he could say anything, Nat had already jumped in to save the situation (as so often): “Nice to meet you, Bucky. I’m Nat – Steve’s best friend next to Sam. And this big idiot here is Steve.”  
Nat smiled at Steve and Steve smiled nervously, making Bucky chuckle softly.  
“Nice to meet you, Steve, Nat.”  
Bucky turned around to a man in a suit – the same one he had been waiting with yesterday, except today he wasn’t wearing sunglasses.  
“This is Tony, my best friend”, he said and rolled his eyes when Tony gave them a smirk and placed a hand on Bucky’s shoulder.  
“James here is a bit shy sometimes, you see”, he said and laughed. Bucky groaned and Steve looked at the two confused. James? Didn’t he say his name was Bucky? Why did Tony call him James now? “James?” he asked confused and Bucky glared daggers at Tony before he looked at Steve with something that Steve would call love if you could use that word right now.  
“Full name’s James Buchanan Barnes. But everyone just calls me Bucky. Everyone except Tony when he wants to piss me off”, he explained and Steve nodded.  
“Well then you two got something in common”, Nat said and everyone looked at her. Steve groaned.  
“Nat, please”, he said but Nat just started laughing before she explained it to a now confused Bucky and Tony.  
“His name’s _Steven_ Grant Rogers. And Stevie here hates Steven, don’t you, _Steven_?”  
Nat looked at Steve with mischief in her eyes and Steve thought about whether it was better to punch her and tell her to shut up or just beg the ground to open so he could disappear in a hole. Did she have to embarrass him in front of his soulmate and the hottest person he had ever seen? Did she really have to do that?

A soft chuckle made Steve turn his head and look at Bucky. A bright grin was plastered on his face and he looked at Steve.  
“I like it. At least I’m not the only one with a name they don’t like. Though I’m luckier – after all it’s my second name I hate”, he said and winked at Steve. If the blush on Steve’s cheeks had disappeared before – it certainly was back now.  
Tony, Nat and even Sharon started laughing, whereas Steve just stared at Bucky, hoping that Bucky wouldn’t think he was some weirdo who couldn’t speak.  
And how could he still look at Steve with this wonderful magnificent smile that took his breath away? Was there anything about this man that wasn’t perfect?

“So... As we’re soulmates I’d say we should go on a date, don’t you agree?” Bucky said and Steve nodded hastily, not wanting to make him wait for an answer again. Bucky chuckled, leaning over to him.  
“Well, normally I’d ask you if you would like to go and get some coffee but considering the fact that we are in a coffee shop I’m afraid this won’t work”, Bucky continued and he gave Steve the sweetest smile he had ever seen. It made Bucky shine from the inside out and Steve didn’t want anything more than to kiss him right now. Instead he bit his lip and waited for Bucky to say something more. Steve was sure that he had lost his ability to speak right now because this just couldn’t happen right now. This had to be a dream. There was no way that God had decided that someone like Bucky – someone so beautiful and stunning – was his soulmate. This couldn’t be. This just couldn’t be.  
Bucky continued smiling at Steve while he added: “So how about I take you out for dinner tonight?” The way Bucky smiled at Steve and the way his eyes locked with his made Steve’s heart skip a beat and he was certain that it would only take him a few more seconds before he would pass out.  
Unable to form a coherent sentence or say _anything_ he just stared at Bucky.

Seconds passed before Bucky raised his voice.  
“Well?” he asked carefully and Steve realized that he still waited for an answer but there was no way that he could form sentences with the words floating in his mind. Luckily, Nat seemed to notice what was happening with him and jumped in again.  
“Steve would be more than happy to go out with you tonight, Bucky. You just made him speechless, I fear”, he said and smiled at Bucky while placing a hand on Steve’s shoulder.  
“Right, Steve?”  
Steve tore his gaze away from Bucky’s face and eyes and looked at Nat. He blinked a few times before his face first went pale and then turned bright red – competing with the red light outside close to the shop.  
Steve heard the other’s chuckle, causing his blush to increase. However, throughout the laughter he could hear Bucky’s voice – soft and warm and just too perfect.  
“Hey, it’s fine.”  
Bucky’s voice was a whisper and Steve believed that his sentence was only meant for him but it made him look down at the ground nevertheless.

He could feel Nat patting his shoulder and bit his lip again. Did he have to embarrass himself that much in front of his soulmate? Why couldn’t he just be… well, cooler? More calm? More outgoing and extrovert? Why couldn’t he just be like Bucky or Nat or Sharon or Sam? Why did he always have to turn into a flustered mess when someone hot was talking to him or flirting with him or asking him out on a date? Why couldn’t he just stay calm and be his composed self? Why did he have to react like that?

Out of the corner of his eye Steve could see Bucky searching for something in his pocket and before he could ask if anything was wrong, Bucky had pulled out a business card and handed it towards Steve.  
“Here. Meet me at _The Palace_ at 19:30 in front of the entrance. Message me if anything prevents you from coming or when you’re late”, Bucky explained and for a second Steve starred at the business card before taking it. Their hands touched for a second and despite it only being a slight touch Steve could feel his blood turning hot and he could feel his face heating up again. What he wouldn’t give to hold this man’s hand right now. Steve swallowed before he shoved the business card into his pocket and looked at Bucky. It seemed as though the male was about to say something, but a cough from Tony behind him stopped him. Bucky looked at the other man and Tony held up his arm, revealing a golden watch. He tapped against it two times.  
“Not to interrupt you in your wonderful get-together, Bucky, but businesses don’t run themselves. We’ve got plenty of things to do and I’m sure you two got enough time to talk tonight”, Tony said, making Bucky grimace.  
A sigh escaped his mouth and he looked at Steve. Genuine sadness was visible in his eyes, when he spoke to Steve again.  
“I’m sorry. Duty’s calling”, he said and rolled his eyes before smirking.  
“Remember to text me. And don’t forget our date tonight”, he added, putting a cute pink color on Steve’s cheeks again.  
Slowly, Steve nodded still taken aback by what just happened.  
With a wink and a smile that made heaven seem like a place on earth Bucky said goodbye to everyone, his eyes however not leaving Steve, before he walked to the door with Tony. Before he left, however, he turned around one more time.  
“Don’t be late, Steve! I don’t want to search for my soulmate again!”  
The genuine smile on his face made Steve blush harder again and he nodded, watching Tony and Bucky leave. He could feel the ache in his heart when Bucky disappeared from his sight and he closed his eyes for a second.  
This didn’t just happen. This couldn’t have happened.

When Steve opened his eyes again he could feel Nat’s and Sharon’s gaze on him.  
“What?” he asked and Nat grinned.  
“Well, damn boy, if you ain’t a lucky one”, Nat said, winking at him and then adding: “18:00 at your place. We need you to look pretty for your soulmate.”  
Steve bit his lip.  
So this really happened. He really had found his soulmate.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter came way too late, it should have been on her way earlier.  
> Well, whatever.  
> The next chapter might take some time again (FINALS WHY)
> 
> As always thanks for reading <3

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know when the next chapter will come, but I try my best to upload it soon.  
> Mistakes belong to me.  
> Thank you for reading <3


End file.
